Current immunohematology diagnostic systems, such as those manufactured by the Johnson and Johnson Company and DiaMed Inc., among others, utilize dilution cups or plates that are provided as extra consumables. For example, a reusable and washable dilution cup is often utilized in conjunction with such apparatus. The use of reusable cups, however, creates a number of issues relating to cleaning, as well as those involving fluidic “carry-over” between various elements of the apparatus. To prevent the latter, dilution cup fluid carry-over has been traditionally resolved by either using additional supplies of cleaning liquid (e.g., water), taking additional time in the handling and care of the dilution cup, and/or the use of a detergent.
Other apparatus have alternatively been provided, such as those described by U.S. Pat. No. 5,184,634, which uses a cleaning apparatus with a water inlet, a separate air inlet, an outlet to discharge water and a sealing member to hermetically seal the dilution cup. Though fluid carry-over is effectively resolved using this apparatus, a relatively complex cleaning apparatus is required.
In other apparatus, such as described in European Publication No. EP 0100663, a spectrophotometer analyzer incorporates a plurality of intermediate (i.e., disposable) dilution cups. An analyzer incorporating this solution therefore requires the additional resources of a tray or other support for the cups as well as means for handling, moving the cups between specific stations in the analyzer, and eventually disposal of the cups. Therefore, this apparatus has the disadvantage of requiring new hardware and software to control the movement and placement of the disposable dilution cups in addition to the issue of having extra consumables that are introduced by the cups themselves.